Chapter 22: 3, 2, 1 Summary

3 Things I Have Learned

Karl Marx is responsible for the development of Socialism and Communism. I had heard of the term Marxism before but I've never really looked into it. Now I know that Marx is responsible for the creation of these two systems of governing.

The famine in Ireland was caused by the "blight" disease. I had previously been aware that Ireland had a famine that was pretty devastating, but had no clue as to the true impact of this disease. The Irish depended on the potato for everything and I don't think I truly grasped that until now.

More revolutions in France! Wow, this country sure loves to revolt! The Revolution of 1830 in particular interested me. It's good though that, through many revolts, they finally managed to get a Democratic Republic in 1848.

2 Things That Interested Me

Romanticism came along during this time period! I learned about the Romantic Movement in English last year, but I never really pieced together the timeline. I'm not sure yet if I think it's odd that Romanticism came about in the middle of the industrial revolution, or if it makes perfect sense. On one hand the rebellion against industries makes a bit of sense, but it really feels like this idealistic idea should have been held in a different time period.

Beethoven was the first great romantic composer. I love Beethoven's pieces and now that I know he is a romantic I can totally see the tenants played out in his works. Very interesting stuff.

1 Question I Still Have

How do the events from this chapter and chapter 23 lead to the modern world we have today? When are things that are societal norms today going to show up in the culture of the past? I'm starting to put the tapestry of this time period together, but I want to know where it connects to today.

Chapter 22: Picturing the Past

Picturing the Past

The Discovery of the Potato Blight, Daniel McDonald

This painting, painted in a Romantic style, showcases the devastation of an Irish family who have just discovered that their potato crops have the blight. The blight, a fungus that completely ruins this essential crop, is literally a death sentence to this family who depend on the potato to survive. Ireland's recent population explosion due to the cultivation of the potato turns out to be a death sentence when this horrible disease shows up. An Irishman would live almost entirely from this crop and its failure was a sentence worse than death; it lead the family to slowly starve and be taken by the many epidemics sweeping the country. The countries greatest gift turned on them without a second thought, and an entire nation nearly starved to death. 

Chapter 22: US Events

Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise was the first precedent for the congressional exclusion of slavery from public territory acquired since the adoption of the Constitution. It was also a clear recognition that Congress has no right to impose upon a state asking for admission into the Union conditions which do not apply to those states already in the Union. This was important for a number of reasons, but most of them were confined to the United States. While slavery was a vital part of the world economy at this point of time (The US being the lead cotton export), this compromise affected countries overseas very little. Europe was thriving under the Industrial Revolution, and the petty arguments over in the US about which states could own people must have been seen as barbaric. This compromise would ultimately lead to a civil war, a war which will set the US back while other countries flourish under industrialized regimes. 

Battle of the Alamo

The Battle of the Alamo is used as a symbol of not quitting. It occurred during the Texas Revolution with Mexico. 236 men held off an army of 3000 Mexicans for two weeks until they were wiped out. In April an army of Texans led by Sam Houston beat the Mexican army and the Republic of Texas was formed. Texas then went on to become a part of the US. The Battle of the Alamo is a good example of American Patriotism, and a lot of this old "against the odds" spirit is still with us today. This event didn't make great waves throughout the world however. Really the only other country affected was Mexico. However the spirit that is represented here is very reminiscent of the revolts and revolutions being held in Europe. They are fighting for freedom, just like the French or the Italians, against a superior opponent. 

Chapter 22: Significant People

Karl Marx

In 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto, which would become the 'bible of socialism'. Marxism, or Socialism, was a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. Marx believed that throughout history, one class was always being exploited by another. So he proposed that a sort of equal playing field was the way to go, and that society as a whole would be better off if people worked together instead of against each other. His writing introduced communism to the world, and that would be a huge influence to Lenin and Stalin. Without him, the concept of communism might never have been developed and the world would be a completely different place.

Giuseppe Mazzini

Mazzini wrote "Duties Towards Your Country", a Nationalistic piece that encouraged ideas that would work under a politically independent nation-state. His works would ultimately lead to the unification of Italy. Mazzini believed that Italian unification could only be achieved through a popular uprising. He relentlessly agitated the Italian populace to revolt, and encouraged, initiated, and organized numerous small and large revolts from his exile in England.

Prince Klemens von Metternich

Klemens von Metternich was an Austrian politician, perhaps the most important diplomat of his era. He was a major figure in the negotiations leading to the Congress and Treaty of Vienna and is considered a major figure on the development of diplomacy. Metternich favored traditional, even autocratic, institutions over democratic systems. He believed that liberalism was responsible for a generation of war with untold bloodshed and suffering, and blamed liberal middle-class revolutionaries for stirring up the lower classes which he believed desired nothing more than peace and quite.

Chapter 22: Introduction

Ideologies and Upheavals (Chapter 22)

As the Industrial Revolution began to take Europe by storm, a lot of new reforms and ideas were being developed all over Europe. Among them is the Romantic Movement, a movement that was seen as a direct counter to that of Enlightenment and encouraged emotional exuberance. Liberal reform was taking place in Great Britain through things such as the Reform Bill of 1832 and the Corn Laws. Ireland would suffer a Great Famine due to the failure of the potato crop, and a Democratic Republic would develop in France. My objective for this chapter will be to understand why Romanticism became so popular in a world full of machinery and factories.

Essential Question: What sort of beliefs did Romantics have?

Romantics had very simple, but fairly strict beliefs. Of them were the "5 I's of Romanticism": Imagination, Intuition, Inspiration, Idealism, and Individuality. They strove for a more emotional world to combat the world of cold, industrial logic around them. Instead of finding beauty in cities they looked to the forests and nature to find beauty. They strove to be emotional in a time where emotion wasn't encouraged, and a lot of romantics would end up committing suicide, partaking in duels to the death or even madness.

Chapter 21: 3, 2, 1 Summary

3 Things I Have Learned

The development of the locomotive began in Europe. I was always under the impression that the Locomotive had been developed in the United States. Perhaps this is because I always associated railroads with the western development of the US, but it was nevertheless a surprise to discover that railroads were initially in Europe.

Child Labor laws started with the Factory Act of 1833. I thought that child labor had been abused far later in time than it appears it was. I didn't expect to see any child labor laws until at least the 1900s, but I guess I misjudged time here.

The Mines act of 1842 was put in place to keep woman and young boys protected in mines. This was probably a very serious problem that I never really considered, but the fact that laws had to be put in place to save these people is terrifying to me.

2 Things That Interested Me

Life took such a dramatic shift for these people. One minute half the world was starving and the next factories and jobs are abundant. It's amazing what an industry can do to form both bring a country, or even a continent, together. This also marks the first chapter where living conditions are significantly different.

Cotton was an extremely important crop at this time. If the spinning jenny and water frame hadn't been invented this crop may have never taken off. But the importance of cotton really puts into perspective why things like slavery in the US was so big. Cotton was king.

1 Question I Still Have

Why didn't these changes come along sooner? Is there any particular reason it took so long for this shift in focus to industry in Europe? Surely it didn't have to be delayed this long.

Chapter 21: Picturing the Past

Picturing the Past

Stephenson's Rocket

The invention of the Steam Engine was arguably the most significant invention of the Industrial Revolution, and George Stephenson's locomotive Rocket is one of the first effective examples of this new technology being brought together with a railroad system. Traveling down the track at a whopping sixteen miles per hour, Rocket traveled from Liverpool to Manchester on the newly build railway. This railway would quickly become the heart of industrial England, and as locomotives became faster and more efficient so would the rich trading and transportation system of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Within twenty years of the Rocket's first voyage, the main trunk lines of Great Britain would be established. The rich coal and iron deposits would be able to travel all throughout England on these new truck lines, and the increased power of locomotives would also help.

Chapter 21: US Events

War of 1812

The War of 1812 is one of the forgotten wars of the United States. The war lasted for over two years, and while it ended much like it started; in stalemate; it was in fact a war that once and for all confirmed American Independence. The offensive actions of the United States failed in every attempt to capture Canada. On the other hand, the British army was successfully stopped when it attempted to capture Baltimore and New Orleans. There were a number of American naval victories in which American vessels proved themselves superior to similarly sized British vessels. One of the main reasons that President James Madison declared war on Great Britain was because the British were stopping American ships at sea, searching them, and sometimes imprisoning American sailors. So a mainly this war was fought to free the US once and for all from Europe's control over the ironclad grip on trade they had acquired. This war, while by no stretch of the imagination a major victory, would basically assert that the United States was here to stay.

Morse Key (1837)

Samuel Morse and his assistant, developed Morse Code in the United States. While electrical telegraph systems were beginning to emerge in Europe, Morse is considered to have perfected the system with his simple code and reliable system of communication. In Europe William Fothergil Cooke and Charles Wheatstone patented a telegraph system almost at the same time as Morse. Their system used a number of needles on a board that could be moved to point to letters of the alphabet. The five-needle system saw great commercial success until the cables laid out for the system began to fail as a result of deteriorating insulation. Once Morse's system became known around the world, Europeans began to adopt the system rather than deal with the complex five-needle system by Cooke and Wheatstone. It became the European telegraphy standard in 1851.

Chapter 21: Significant People

James Hargreaves

Hargreaves is responsible for the invention of the spinning jenny, a simple, inexpensive hand powered tool that would modernize the textile industry. Cotton goods became much cheaper, and they were bought and treasured by all classes. This brought about dramatic change from the past, where only the wealthy could afford the comfort of underwear and other textile "luxuries". Now millions were able to afford undergarments and this substantially increased the quality of life for all the classes.

Richard Arkwright

Arkwright would invent the water frame, a machine similar to the spinning jenny but with one key difference; the water frame had a capacity of several hundred spindles and used waterpower. Because of the need for waterpower, the water frame required a highly specialized mill and as many as a thousand workers to operate it properly. These mills would end up being the first factories, and this would be another factor in the rapid industrialization of Europe.

Josiah Wedgwood

Wedgwood was the perfecter of jasperware, a fine-grained pottery usually made in "Wedgwood blue" with white decorations. He is also well known for his development of the factory system. He worked tremendously hard to have his workers strive for perfection in their work, and he would often fine his workers for things like drinking on the job or wasting material. This would go on to be a template for many other factories of the time.

Chapter 21: Introduction

The Revolution in Energy and Industry (Chapter 21)

A dramatic change in lifestyles was about to take place in Europe as the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the 1780s. This revolution would change almost everything about how life was lived in Europe, and its roots would soon be spread to the rest of the world. Everything from the way people worked to the social structure of the time would be dramatically overhauled, and a standard of living would develop that had not previously been available. Rapid population growth would also be a factor of the time however, and many would become impoverished by the lack of production. My objective for this chapter is to decipher how the Industrial Revolution would change the world not only in this time period, but how it would effect the world in the further future. 

Essential Question: How did rapid Industrialization affect the quality of people's lives?

Industrialization changed a great many things in regards the the quality of life. Working in factories was vastly different from working on farms; instead of working for your own survival people were now working to earn money. With the development of the steam engine, a lot of goods that had been previously unavailable to a family were now in abundance, thanks to the ability to trade long distances. The middle class became much larger and much wealthier as jobs available from factories became abundant, and even the women and children would work to keep the family happy and alive.